Lloyd Parks (born 26 May 1948) is a Jamaican reggae vocalist and bass player who has recorded and performed as a solo artist as well as part of Skin, Flesh & Bone, The Revolutionaries, The Professionals, and We the People Band.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Parks' interest in music was fuelled by his uncle Dourie Bryan, who played in a calypso band, and Parks became the band's singer. In the late 1960s, he performed with the Invincibles band (whose members also included Ansell Collins, Sly Dunbar and Ranchie McLean) before teaming up with Wentworth Vernal in The Termites. In 1967, they recorded their first single, "Have Mercy Mr. Percy", and then an album Do the Rocksteady for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label. After recording "Rub Up Push Up" for the Dampa label, Parks and Vernal split up. Parks then briefly joined The Techniques as a replacement for Pat Kelly, recording tracks such as "Say You Love Me", before embarking on a solo career and later starting his own label, Parks. His second single was the classic "Slaving", a moving song about the struggles of a working man. As a solo artist, he recorded a number of songs for Prince Tony Robinson, including "Trenchtown Girl" and "You Don't Care". Some of his best known solo hits include "Officially", "Mafia" (both 1974), "Girl In The Morning" and "Baby Hang Up The Phone" (both 1975).
Lloyd Parks is an American R&B/soul singer born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is an original member of the Grammy-Nominated Philadelphia International Records group Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. Lloyd is noted for his high tenor and falsetto vocal leads and harmonies. He is also a founding member of The Epsilons who backed Arthur Conley on his Atco Records hit single Sweet Soul Music. He is also the sole surviving original Blue Note.
Parks started his career in music in the mid-1960s performing with various local Philadelphia vocal groups including the Emanons who hit with "One Heart" on "Phila Of Soul" Records. He later merged with friends Gene McFadden and John Whitehead to form the Epsilons. The group was managed by Soul Singer Otis Redding and were soon signed to the Stax Records label. They toured for two years with Redding and backed label mate Arthur Conley on his 1967 recording "Sweet Soul Music." The single reached No.2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard R&B charts. The following year the Epsilons a quintet that included Allen Beatty and James Knight released "The Echo." The group disbanded following the tragic death of their mentor Otis Redding. Parks joined another local act The Broadway Express while McFadden and Whitehead reformed The Epsilons as the group Talk of The Town.
"In the Ghetto" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle") is a song written by Mac Davis and made famous by Elvis Presley, who had a major comeback hit with it in 1969. It was released in 1969 as a 45 rpm single with "Any Day Now" as the flip side.
It is a narrative of generational poverty: a boy is born to a mother who already has more children than she can feed in the ghetto of Chicago. The boy grows up hungry, steals and fights, purchases a gun and steals a car, attempts to run, but is shot and killed just as his own child is born. The song implies that the newborn will meet the same fate, continuing the cycle of poverty and violence. The feeling of an inescapable circle is created by the structure of the song, with its simple, stark phrasing; by the repetition of the phrase "in the ghetto" as the close of every fourth line; and finally by the repetition of the first verse's "and his mama cries" just before the beginning and as the close of the last verse.
In the Ghetto is a Reggae album by Maiko Zulu. The album was produced in 2001 with the hit song In The Ghetto.
All lyrics written by Maiko Zulu, all music composed by Maiko Zulu.
In the Ghetto is a song written by Mac Davis and popularized by Elvis Presley.
In the Ghetto may also refer to:
"Let's dance!"
Walked up Dr. Jay's, five niggas with K's
Son, they feelin' ya waves, it's like mayonaisse
Old people love you, corns on they feet
Fifteen, twenty deep, you walked in, cross streets
Walk 'em through red lights, Shaolin through Crown Heights
Even had 'em on bikes, they was starting fights
New Year's had 'em all drunk, lazy eye Milton
Found a pump, tired of busting 'em
Scotty snatched Janet's wig off, that night, shit got hectic
Barbara Jean fuckin' old man Shet
Good God, shit's real as a fuck, throw a buck
On Chuckle-Up, Thunderbird in cuffs
Skeeter with no teeth, night train lips
Beefin' with police, Grady hit knees
Dude blew a bag with him, he got butt naked in the 'villes
Plus he fucked a whitey in the hill